Family's Family

Taylor got good news that only got better. She felt a little better hearing that the Pandas won, she hadn't found matches two and three to watch, but it seemed too good to be true when she mentioned how they lost their titles. She gave Junko a skeptical look, in case she was only trying to make her feel better or something.

She nodded. Strategies were important, sure. "I don't use the big moves very often. Almost never, really. I try not to force anything, 'cause then I end up getting stuck." She paused. She felt really uncomfortable, like a little kid in the middle of a group of adults when a parent says "tell them what you said earlier". She didn't feel like she was a 22-year-old veteran professional fighter, a wrestler.

She sighed. She knew what sort of opponent she worried about. "Cecelia." She said shamefully, and bowed her head. She would never have admitted that to anyone else in the world. "She's a little like Akashi, 'cause she's strong, but I don't worry about Akashi. I guess because I know her so much, but also because I know she can't touch me if I don't want her to. When... When I think about the moment where I go in on someone, I feel like... When I imagine going in on Cecelia, I feel a lot of danger, like she'd get her hands on me. Like I wouldn't be fast enough or smart enough and I'd end up getting slammed on my head through the mat." She drew a heavy breath, as if she'd just lifted an enormous weight and then set it down again. "That's one of the reasons why I don't like her."

She took a step back and stared off into the distance while she visualized the scenarios. "But ya know, if I was in the ring with her, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd move around, wait for her to go and watch for that sweet spot where I know they're out of place, and then bam," she snapped her fingers. "I'd be fuckin' on her. In the match, I'd know that I'd be all over her so fast she wouldn't even see me before I put her away." She nodded. "And that's the way it's gotta be."

Junko raised her eyebrow at Taylor as she began to speak. "Cecilia Northman?" She questioned. Well, the girl was a champion and quite a fierce fighter. It would be right for Taylor to worry about her. But she was also a hardcore fighter. Taylor didn't have any specialty and in Junko's mind, that gave her an advantage. Still, everyone had their quirks but she found it odd that Junko was dismissive of Akashi when she had lost to her once.

"Doesn't Akashi-san know you too? I'm sure she'd have her own plan if she ever fought you again." Junko paused. "But I'd like to see you fight Cecilia-san. That would be a curious match up." She looked at Taylor. "But what happens if you fight someone with a similar style? It's not like you're the only one who thinks the way you do. How would you wrestle against yourself? That is always the most interesting question. That's what I would ask Rosie-chan when we were tying to get a grip on her weaknesses."

For a moment, Taylor forgot all her trepidation. Her eyes widened, and she began talking less like an unsure teenager and more like a passionate professional, who couldn't be more excited that someone else was asking the questions about which she had so much to say. Her face was serious, but her speech was propelled as if pushed from behind by her enthusiasm, wanting to get out.

"Well, that's the thing," she said, wagging her finger at Junko and shaking her head. "Nobody has my style. Nobody has my body or my brain, and nobody fights harder. I can do things other people can't. Maybe they see that and try to figure out how to stop it, but I'm not just a one-trick-pony. I'm pretty smart too, and I know the ways people try to stop me. I've thought about them for days and days, and in the gym I drill that stuff over and over and over, so that I'm never a step behind." She said, slapping the flat of her hand against her palm for emphasis. "Everyone has weaknesses, but smart people learn how to never let people reach them."

She drew a breath and kept right on talking, faster and faster. "And I don't worry about Akashi. She's good, she hits like a truck and she's build like a brick wall. A squishy brick wall. She's got spirit. But she can't stop me because even if she could think of ways to do it, her body can't pull it off. She might know what to do, and she can feel pretty good about herself as my knee blasts her jaw out of joint." She bounced on the balls of her feet and grinned.

"People don't know what I do. They don't see it. I don't think I've ever had a match where I showed all my potential."

"Well, yeah, that's true." Junko said as she listened to Taylor. She liked the girls attitude. Any winning professional wrestler had to think the same way that Taylor did. She was probably sure that many of her opponents felt the same as well. That's what made wrestling so exciting. Not everyone could win and not everyone was perfect. But who brought the best strategy and who could push themselves to the limit on that given night. That was what sent thrills up her spine.

As she nodded along with Taylor, she grinned. "I'd like to see that match as well. It's too bad though." Junko said. "No one's ever going to see all that passion you have." junko said, flashing a coy smile at Taylor. "Fufufu~"

Taylor shook her head like and drew back like Junko had just said the strangest thing ever. "What? Why?" She said, completely confused. "Are you threatening me? What do you mean?"

"Taylor-chan." Junko said incredulously, her smile remaining. 'You're retired."

Taylor's eyes were suddenly huge, and her voice was tiny.

"Oh."

She could feel the heat in her cheeks as she blushed. She averted her eyes and felt as if she'd just caught herself in a lie or done something incredibly stupid. She couldn't have been more embarrassed.

She touched her hand to her forehead and blinked repeatedly. She glanced around for Johnny, instinctively seeking his support now that she needed it.

"Right, well... It's still fun to talk about." She mumbled.

Junko chuckled softly and patted Taylor on the back, rubbing her hand up and down comfortingly. "It is, indeed, Taylor-chan. Now, I think we both need to find Junichi-kun and apologize to him for doing the exact thing that he was afraid of happening." She pulled her hand off Taylor's back and smiled at her. "Taylor-chan." She said, lifting up her chin to look her over. "I'm quite pleased to have you as my daughter-in-law. I don't think Junichi-kun could have done better if he had tried for a million more years."

Maybe it was just the awkwardness of the moment or the weight of her self-inflicted humiliation, but Taylor felt something. She couldn't describe it or express it, and she did the only thing she could to express it.

She stepped forward and hugged Junko, and then, after a moment, stepped back to where she was. She looked at her like she was afraid of what she'd say, and she felt vulnerable for having done it, in a way she hated to feel. "Um..." She said, glancing around, thinking of how to ask the question in her head.

"Do you think I'm dumb?" She said, helplessly, like she was truly worried that it might be true.

Junko was a little shocked when Taylor hugged her. She slipped an arm around to lightly pat Taylor's back. She let Taylor ease out of the hug and smiled at her. When she asked her question, her eyes widened in genuine shock. She leaned forward, brushed the bangs out of Taylor's eyes and framed her face with her hand. "Of course not." She said and smiled sincerely at Taylor. "No one can know everything and you certainly know a lot."

Junko pulled her hand away and smiled at Taylor once more. Her heart beat warmly in her chest. "I told you, Taylor-chan." She said. "A mother's love is unconditional. You're smart enough to pick out Junichi-kun, anyway." She said and laughed. Junko then strode over to the ropes and motioned to Taylor. "Now, are you going to get these ropes for me, or are you going to make an old lady break her hip climbing out of these." She said, giggling as she teased Taylor. "Fufufu."